Working with primary schools and the NSPCC, Gemma Elwin Harris asked thousands of children between the ages of four and 12 to write down questions that they wanted answered, and then commissioned experts to respond.

The correspondence is collected in this book, which is charming and informative even for grown-ups. Is it OK to eat a worm? (“You bet it is,” says Bear Grylls). Why do we have music? (“Perhaps it was our very first form of communication,” says Jarvis Cocker). Other questions are more creative: “If a cow didn’t fart for a year and then did one big fart, would it fly into space?” The answer, disappointingly, is no.

Tourists are limp, leaderless and distinctly UnAustralian

Andrew Grice: Inside Westminster

Blairites be warned, this could be the moment Labour turns into Syriza

The mystery of Britain's worst naval disaster is finally solved - 271 years later

Exclusive: David Keys reveals the research that finally explains why HMS Victory went down with the loss of 1,100 lives

'I saw people so injured you couldn't tell if they were dead or alive'

Nagasaki survivors on why Japan must not abandon its post-war pacifism

The voter Obama tried hardest to keep onside

Outgoing The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, became the voice of Democrats who felt the President had failed to deliver on his ‘Yes We Can’ slogan. Tim Walker charts the ups and downs of their 10-year relationship on screen